Railways and Tramways of Australia

Clyde motive power

 

Manufacturer Clyde Engineering marked two major anniversaries with an open day at Sydney Terminal station on 25 July 1998.

 

Clyde Engineering was registered as a company in September 1898, so its centenary in business was marked in 1998. It formalised a partnership with the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in June 1948, making 1998 the partnership’s 50th anniversary.

 

Several events were held to mark the anniversaries, including a gala dinner at the Powerhouse Museum. Guests were transported by a hired light rail vehicle.

 

The open day at Sydney Terminal station featured seven locomotives, representing significant milestones in Clyde Engineering’s history:

• C38 Class 4-6-2 steam locomotive 3801, which entered service in 1943

• Commonwealth Railways diesel locomotive GM1, the first mainline diesel locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, which entered service in 1951

• Western Australian L Class diesel locomotive L262, which entered service in 1968, representing the most powerful type of locomotive built or operated in Australia at the time

• 81 Class diesel locomotive 8162, one of the Clyde’s Super Series model, which entered service in 1985

• AN Class diesel locomotive AN1, the first government-owned 4000-horsepower (2286-kW) locomotive in Australia, which entered service in 1992

• 90 Class diesel locomotive 9008, introduced in 1994 as Ready Power units for Hunter Valley coal haulage, and maintained by Clyde Engineering

• Western Australian Q Class diesel locomotive Q319 (now Q4019), Clyde’s newest locomotive at the time and Australia’s first locomotive type with radial steering bogies.

The display at Sydney Terminal was very popular, and an estimated 10,000 people attended. Locomotive cabs were opened to the public for inspection. Steam locomotive 3801 was in steam and ran up and down alongside platform no. 1.

 

Clyde’s lengthy history of motive power achievements provided a grand exhibition.

 

View

Footage of locomotives travelling to and at the exhibition:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXWCBq6utTk

 

Bibliography

‘Clyde Engineering celebrations at Sydney Terminal’, Motive Power, no. 2, October 1998, p 18.

D Jehan, Clyde: a history of Clyde Engineering engineers and manufacturers: the diesel era: 1948-2000, Eveleigh Press, Sydney, 2024.

C Walters, ‘Flashback to Clyde Engineering’s centenary – Sydney Central station, Saturday 25 July 1998’, Motive Power, no. 150, November

     2023, pp 34–5.

‘Locomotives and traffic’, Railway Digest, vol. 36, no. 9, September 1998, p 30–1.